Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie

Aphorism Project & Presentation

Morrie Schwartz, “a teacher to the last,” left Mitch with many useful aphorisms, or bite-sized philosophies on life. Throughout the novel, Mitch’s character transforms as he begins to take note of and understand these life lessons; however, in the process, the readers also learn from Morrie’s infinite wisdom.

Your Task

1)  Choose your favorite aphorism from the novel. This does not mean choose the easiest, shortest, or the one that you believe will impress me the most; choose one that you believe to be true, and you feel most passionately about.

2)  Spend time carefully analyzing the aphorism by answering the following questions:

a.  What do the key words in the passage mean?

b.  Are words repeated in the passage? What’s the reason for this repetition?

c.  What do you visualize when you read this passage?

d.  What literary devices are illustrated in this passage? (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification, juxtaposition, hyperbole, imagery, etc.)

3)  Summarize in your own words the message/lesson the aphorism is trying to convey.

4)  Now that you have carefully analyzed the aphorism, find/create something that symbolizes (represents) this aphorism. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

a.  Write/find a poem

b.  Draw/find an image/photograph

c.  Write/find a song

d.  Create/find an object

e.  Other ideas?

5)  Cleary explain how the object, poem, song, image, etc. symbolizes the aphorism.

6)  Present the aphorism and symbol to the class in no more than two minutes. Your presentation must include the following:

a.  The aphorism

b.  A summary of the aphorism

c.  The symbol

d.  A clear explanation of how the symbol represents the aphorism

Other important details:

·  You may only use a notecard (3x5) during your presentation

·  Must turn in final project that contains the following: Morrie’s aphorism, your chosen symbol, explanation of aphorism, explanation of connection of your symbol

·  Project is no smaller than a 8x11 sheet of paper and no larger than a piece of poster board

·  I will be grading your presentation separately from your project

·  Projects on my “Above & Beyond” bulletin board will receive 10 bonus points…remember, I never give out extra credit so here is a chance to earn some